ceredigion Posted 16 April 2014 Share Posted 16 April 2014 Thoughts on Bill Anderson please. I presume he must have packed up long ago by now, but for years and years he was the Leicester Mercury's Chief Football Correspondent and Apologist-in-Chief for a succession of incompetent board-room and managerial regimes at Filbert Street. I remember him mainly as a Soviet-style apparatchik and propagandist who spent most of his time telling us how lucky we were to have seen us hold the likes of Barnsley and Watford to a goalless draw at home. His columns at the Mercury were always accompanied by a silhouette profile of him, intended to represent a fearless and intrepid investigative reporter, unafraid of speaking truth to power. Sadly, I suspect the reality was that dear old Bill was always more concerned with staying on the right side of whoever ruled the roost at LCFC. Is he still alive? He used to be a force to be reckoned with back in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deejdeej Posted 16 April 2014 Share Posted 16 April 2014 All I remember about him was if we lost 6-0 at least half of our players would get a rating of 8 or above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corky Posted 16 April 2014 Share Posted 16 April 2014 Thoughts on Bill Anderson please. I presume he must have packed up long ago by now, but for years and years he was the Leicester Mercury's Chief Football Correspondent and Apologist-in-Chief for a succession of incompetent board-room and managerial regimes at Filbert Street. I remember him mainly as a Soviet-style apparatchik and propagandist who spent most of his time telling us how lucky we were to have seen us hold the likes of Barnsley and Watford to a goalless draw at home. His columns at the Mercury were always accompanied by a silhouette profile of him, intended to represent a fearless and intrepid investigative reporter, unafraid of speaking truth to power. Sadly, I suspect the reality was that dear old Bill was always more concerned with staying on the right side of whoever ruled the roost at LCFC. Is he still alive? He used to be a force to be reckoned with back in the day. No different to the rest of the club back then, quite happy to be mediocre and spin the "we've got no money" line as we limped through another inept season, players and managers coming out weekly telling us "they gave everything", "redouble efforts in training" and "we'll put it right next week". Thankfully that era of excuses and desperation has gone and we've got players with ability and a manager who tells it like it is and isn't happy to be rubbish and believe 16th is acceptable in the "unpredictable and tough" nature of the second division. Wasn't he made public relations officer under Mandaric? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katieakita Posted 16 April 2014 Share Posted 16 April 2014 Would have loved to watched the game sat next to him as he seemed to be watching Brazil every week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattGamble92 Posted 16 April 2014 Share Posted 16 April 2014 What a great Leicester Mercury reporter. Said no man ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetstonefox Posted 16 April 2014 Share Posted 16 April 2014 Always loved to blame the fans, he loved it when Pleat was here , thinking he was closer to the big time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MattP Posted 16 April 2014 Share Posted 16 April 2014 Every single one of them has a Soviet style mouthpiece for the owner. Go and have a read of what Rob Tanner wrote for Mandy after the Sousa appointment. We had got rid of the ugly footballing dinosaur centre half Nigel Pearson and brought in sexy ball playing Paulo Sousa and his flashy champions league medals. The fact we had booted out a man who had won a league and finished 5th in two seasons with no money wasn't even questioned let alone debated as maybe not being such a bright idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenfox Posted 16 April 2014 Share Posted 16 April 2014 I went to school with his son. Used to love ribbing him about the awful reports his dad made Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RizLCFC Posted 16 April 2014 Share Posted 16 April 2014 All I remember about him was if we lost 6-0 at least half of our players would get a rating of 8 or above. No different to now then, have you seen the ratings they give? Absolutely terrible. I think Rob Tanner does it now, check them out for our remaining games, right joke! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UpTheLeagueFox Posted 17 April 2014 Share Posted 17 April 2014 Bill retired from the Merc and did some work for the club but he's recently moved back to Scotland for family reasons. Despite being a good and long standing pal of mine, I have told him numerous times what I thought of his stuff in the Merc!! My dad knew him a little and when I was 13 I told Bill I would become a journalist and take his job on the Merc. I achieved the former but not the latter and, to be honest, I'm more than happy in radio rather than the written press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deejdeej Posted 17 April 2014 Share Posted 17 April 2014 'Scored 2 own goals and got sent off after 3 minutes.. but before that, a sound display 7/10' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Year Of The Fox Posted 17 April 2014 Share Posted 17 April 2014 To be fair not one player got more than 5/10 in last Wednesday's Mercury Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinowe Soorie Posted 17 April 2014 Share Posted 17 April 2014 When we signed Mark Blake from Portsmouth, the headline was something like Leicester smash transfer record!! We smashed it by ten grand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleatout Posted 17 April 2014 Share Posted 17 April 2014 He wasn't known as Hans Christian for nothing. I went up to Scotland for the preseason tour - Morton, St Mirren and Motherwell when Pleat was manager. He went home on the City coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
separator Posted 17 April 2014 Share Posted 17 April 2014 Bill retired from the Merc and did some work for the club but he's recently moved back to Scotland for family reasons. Despite being a good and long standing pal of mine, I have told him numerous times what I thought of his stuff in the Merc!! My dad knew him a little and when I was 13 I told Bill I would become a journalist and take his job on the Merc. I achieved the former but not the latter and, to be honest, I'm more than happy in radio rather than the written press. Speaking of local radio, whatever happened to Neville Foulger. Did he retire? Used to love his commentary on RL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynamark Posted 17 April 2014 Share Posted 17 April 2014 Bill was the opposite to the attendances in those days if you know what I mean. Got involved in local golf . Very very blue tinted glasses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smudgerfox Posted 17 April 2014 Share Posted 17 April 2014 My personal favourite was the Friday edition before the fateful Peter Taylor relegation season - a whole series of articles about us having a group of talented youngsters - Akinbiyi, Benjamin, Marshall, Delaney, Lewis etc - how a top half finish was possible - a piece on Izzet condemning a small minority of doom and gloom merchants on the terraces It really would have shamed Pravda with no hint of what every fan knew deep inside - we were stuffed. 45 minutes into the new season we were 4-0 down at home to the mighty Bolton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UpTheLeagueFox Posted 17 April 2014 Share Posted 17 April 2014 Speaking of local radio, whatever happened to Neville Foulger. Did he retire? Used to love his commentary on RL Nev's in his mid 70s now. He's been in semi-retirement, doing some occasional work on the cricket and football for the Press Association but I think he's calling it a day. I worked for him and then with him and he'll always be someone I shall have the utmost respect for. Shabbily discarded by Radio Leicester a few years back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stadt Posted 18 April 2014 Share Posted 18 April 2014 No, but have some Darren Anderton instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 18 April 2014 Share Posted 18 April 2014 Nev's in his mid 70s now. He's been in semi-retirement, doing some occasional work on the cricket and football for the Press Association but I think he's calling it a day. I worked for him and then with him and he'll always be someone I shall have the utmost respect for. Shabbily discarded by Radio Leicester a few years back. I agree, I used to love listening to Nev, prone to the odd mistake but a passionate commentator. Had the pleasure of meeting him a few times at Grace Rd, top man. And yes he was shabbily treated by radio Leicester. As for Bill Anderson, he was rubbish, didn't he support spurs or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardyfox86 Posted 18 April 2014 Share Posted 18 April 2014 Somehow, after the 1-1 draw against Reading on Monday, the squad got 7's across the board, bar Drinky, who got 8 (presumeably for scoring) Wes and Dyer both got rated 7... These people get paid to observe the game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RizLCFC Posted 19 April 2014 Share Posted 19 April 2014 Nev's in his mid 70s now. He's been in semi-retirement, doing some occasional work on the cricket and football for the Press Association but I think he's calling it a day. I worked for him and then with him and he'll always be someone I shall have the utmost respect for. Shabbily discarded by Radio Leicester a few years back. Top guy and a very good commentator 👠Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPA LAZAROU Posted 19 April 2014 Share Posted 19 April 2014 Remember him being known as " Billy Liar " such was the discrepancy between what actually happened on the pitch and what he wrote down . But I suppose as a local rag the Mercury could not afford to upset the city board as the information would not have been forthcoming ,and they did and still do sell a lot of Mercury's just for the back pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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